


The Snow Keeps Falling (But I'll Keep You Safe Tonight)

by browneyedgenius



Series: Holidays of SHIELD [1]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: ...ish, And Magic!, BUS kids shenanigans, But what else is new?, F/F, F/M, I mean the rest of this is mildly not bad though, Loki goes by they/them pronouns, Mild Elements of Horror, Phil & loki friendship, Philindaisy family, and Easter eggs!, and necromancy!, and snowmen!, apparently M can't write budding romance, it's an... interesting plot but so so fun to write, mildly inspired by frosty the snowman (the song), there's curses!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:55:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28308609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/browneyedgenius/pseuds/browneyedgenius
Summary: When Daisy builds a snowman with her friends Jemma and Fitz in her mother's front lawn, she wasn't sure what she was expecting, but it was definitely NOT her mom falling in love with a guy named Phil. Oh, and breaking a curse. Don't forget about the curse.orVancouver is a pretty magical city after all, and so is Edmonton, apparently.
Relationships: Melinda May & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Phil Coulson & Loki, Phil Coulson/Melinda May
Series: Holidays of SHIELD [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2073354
Comments: 7
Kudos: 27
Collections: Agents of SHIELD Secret Santa 2020





	The Snow Keeps Falling (But I'll Keep You Safe Tonight)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [edgeoflights](https://archiveofourown.org/users/edgeoflights/gifts).



> Heya El!!! Sorry about the late posting, I wanted to get this fic just right for you. I know it isn't exactly the Pipsy you were looking for, but I hope you like it anyway. 
> 
> Have the most amazing holidays, El, you absolutely deserve it! You're such an amazing and kind presence in the fandom and I always love reading whatever you write. 
> 
> Love, M (your fandom fiancée :P)

_ Frosty the snowman is a fairy tale, they say, _

_ He was made of snow but the children know _

_ How he came to life one day. _

>+<

It was a cold winter’s evening. Snow drifted lazily through the air, and Melinda could hear the sounds of Daisy playing with her friends outside her window. She was curled up on her sofa, a hot mug of tea on the table beside her, her gaze trained on the snowman being built out on her front lawn. 

The snowman was actually turning out better than Melinda would’ve imagined, though she had a feeling it probably had something to do with Jemma and Fitz, the perfectionist best friends of Daisy. Her daughter would rather improvise and give things their own quirky feel than plan things out step by step like Jemma often did. She allowed her lips to quirk up in a small, rare smile. 

Melinda heard the sounds of childrens’ laughter get louder, and Daisy burst through the front door in a flurry of snow and giggles. 

“Mom!” the twelve year old yelled, excitement tinging her voice. “Do you have a top hat? All snowmen should have a top hat!”

“I’ll go check in the attic, Dais, but I think we have one up there,” she replied. 

There was indeed a top hat in the attic. It seemed to be made out of silk, and fairly old as well. With a bittersweet pang she realized it had been Andrew’s. She distinctly remembered her husband talking to her about how he’d picked it up at an antique store with a grin on his face. At the time, she’d teased him about how he’d never wear it. She huffed out a melancholy sigh; it had been years since Andrew passed away, but she didn’t feel like she would ever get over him.

Brushing the dust off of the hat, she handed it to Daisy with a warning to be careful with it. She watched as Daisy ran out with bright eyes, exclaiming to Fitz and Jemma about her plans for the snowman. 

>+<

“Jemma! Is it finished yet?” Daisy asked, jumping up and down in the snow. The icy bits of snow flew up as she jumped, finding its way onto her snow pants in a shimmering sheet. As the tallest out of the three of them, she’d been delegated the task of putting the hat on the snowman’s head, and was just waiting for her friends to place the rocks equal increments apart for the perfect smile. 

“Almost,” Jemma said, straining to reach the higher part of the snowman’s face, “And done!” she continued triumphantly, pushing the rock into the snow. She turned to Fitz, and was immediately greeted with a snowball in the face. 

“Fitz!” she yelled, spluttering, as the boy in question ducked behind the snowman, anticipating a snowball coming back his way. Laughing at her friends’ antics, Daisy gently placed the silk hat on the snowman’s head. 

“Guys! We’re done!”

Fitz, expecting Jemma to be distracted by the completion of the snowman, ducked back out. 

Unfortunately, she wasn’t distracted, but fortunately, her aim was terrible. At least it was fortunate until the snowball hit the snowman dead in the face. 

The three of them stared in shock at the snowman, which was now blessed with an incredibly noticeable dent. They burst into giggles. 

The laughs gradually petered out as they turned to gape at the snowman. It was, somehow, transforming.

Stick arms slowly grew into flesh ones, and the packed spheres of snow thinned into a man’s body. The head underneath the top hat grew hair, and trousered legs sprouted from beneath the snowman. It looked like something out of a horror movie, except it didn’t turn into a monster, but instead a rather unassuming man. 

The kids screamed. 

>+<

It had been years since he had felt anything. He could still remember when he could smell the warm breath of the breeze, could hear each nuance of a person’s voice, could see the brilliance of a perfect sunrise. But now? He could barely sense his own thoughts. 

He existed in a limbo of sorts, something vague and cloudlike; but it felt as if he didn’t exist. He couldn’t remember the little details about his life; what made him,  _ him _ . He couldn’t remember if he had ever truly lived at all.

And then, one day (or was it hour, or minute, or second?), he felt  _ something _ . Barriers he had barely known were there shattered, and something akin to sunlight came rushing in. The welcome sound of children’s giggles touched his ears, and gentle snowflakes covered his hair. He opened his eyes.

The kids sitting before him screamed. 

Now, he couldn’t remember much, but he had a feeling his appearance didn’t usually cause yelling. But before he could do anything about it, a woman ran out of the house he stood in front of. 

The woman placed herself protectively in front of the children, mouth pressed in a thin, threatening line. 

“Who are you?” Her voice was accusatory, and her glare was sharp.

A name slowly came to his foggy brain, and he blurted it out automatically. 

“Phil Coulson.”

And then his memories came back with a rush.

>+<

_ He was three years old, crying and clinging on to a stuffed toy as his bright blue balloon flew away into the clouds. _

_ He was eight and his mother was gently kissing away a bruise he got while falling off his bike. _

_ He was thirteen and just starting high school, walking into the brick-red building with a backpack slung over his shoulders. _

_ He was sixteen and meeting Loki for the first time, entranced by their talent with magic. _

_ He was twenty-two and excited to make a change in the world, armed with Loki’s sorcery and his own people skills. _

_ He was twenty-three and watching Loki break down after their mother’s death, helping them pore over pages and pages of old books in an attempt to bring her back. _

_ He was twenty-four and slicing a sword through the monster they had necromanced back to life together, blocking out Loki’s pleas for him to stop. _

_ He was twenty-five and hadn’t seen or talked to Loki in months. _

_ He was thirty-five and attending his own mother’s funeral, clothed in black and finally understanding Loki’s pain. _

_ He was thirty-five and standing in front of Loki’s door, trying to make amends, and feeling the tingling sign of a curse finding its way through his body. _

_ He was thirty-five and banished to the depths of the most horrible curse Loki knew how to use. _

>+<

He jolted back to the present with a start, and immediately started panicking.

“What year is it?” he asked, noticing with dread how the woman’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Who are you?”

The woman answered tersely, introducing herself as Melinda May and stating the date.

It had been five years since Loki had cursed him.

Five years of his life, gone. And from the tightness in his joints and the thinning of his hair, he’d aged while being non-existent as well.

He swore loudly, eliciting a shocked gasp from the kids sitting behind Melinda. Melinda’s glare sharpened even more, if possible.

“Sorry. Do you know where we are?”

“Edmonton.” At Phil’s blank look, Melinda clarified, “Alberta, Canada.”

Phil resisted the urge to swear again. Not only had he been gone for five years, but he was far from Vancouver, which was where Loki was five years ago. He could still feel the uncomfortable tingling of the curse in his bones, and he knew that as the way typically was with curses, only the creator would be able to undo it.

“I’ve got to get to Vancouver.”

>+<

Melinda knew inviting a stranger into her house was a terrible idea, but she reasoned that her martial arts training would be more than enough to protect the kids. So now she was sitting on one couch, the three kids on one side of her, staring contemplatively at Phil.

Phil, on the other hand, was busy explaining his entire life story to them, the kids listening with rapt attention. Melinda was calmly but thoroughly analyzing his speech patterns and body language, slowly letting her guard down as she deduced that he was, in fact, not lying. (Either that or he was just very, very good at it.)

She wanted to believe the first. 

And it wasn’t as if his story was all that uncommon either. He was obviously leaving out some of the gorier details for the kids’ benefit, but from what she understood, he’d run afoul of an old friend and had been cursed. Curses were rare, but they weren’t entirely unheard of. 

“So what you need to do now is go find the person who cursed you,” Melinda summarized, shaking her head tiredly. “Because apparently being stuck inside a top hat for five years wasn’t enough for them, and they had to make you melt like a snowman at the end of the week. And you got this from a gut feeling.”

Phil winced at his predicament. “Well, technically it’s more years of experience and study than gut feeling, but unfortunately, yes.”

“And that person is all the way in Vancouver.”

Phil nodded sheepishly.

“And you have no idea how to get there because you have no money, no technology, and have never been to Edmonton before.”

“Yeah, that about sums it up.”

Now, Melinda found herself at a crossroads. She could ignore her daughter’s pleading look and send Phil off with instructions, some money, and a word of good luck, or she could-

“Mom, can we please help drive Phil to Vancouver? I’ve never been and I really really want to go!” Daisy interrupted. 

And yup. There it was. The patented puppy dog eyes that would always make her give in. 

A sigh. “We’ll take you there,” she told Phil resignedly, not missing his beaming smile. Andrew had always taken care to teach Daisy to always go out of her way to help people, and she couldn’t set a bad example.

“What about us?” Fitz and Jemma interjected, voices perfectly in sync. Oh, right. Them. May had generously volunteered to take them in for the winter holidays since their parents had to go back to Europe suddenly for their jobs. 

She made a split-second decision. “You guys will come along. We’ll leave tomorrow morning.”

>+<

So a road trip in the snow it was, then, with three rambunctious kids in the back of her minivan and an awkward cursed adult sitting in the front with her. They’d woken up much too early that morning, but they wanted to get to Vancouver as soon as possible, since they didn’t know if Loki would even still be there.

“So,” Phil started as they backed out of the driveway, yelling above the kids’ tired but excited voices. “What’s your favourite colour?”

Melinda gave him an unimpressed look. “What’s my favourite colour?”

Phil shrugged, a sheepish smile on his face. “I mean, we’re gonna be spending at least the next twelve hours together, aren’t we? We might as well get to know each other.”

Melinda sighed. She had a feeling she’d be doing that a lot this trip. “Black.”

“Mine’s blue.”

_ Just like your eyes, _ Melinda almost said, but she stopped herself just in time. Since when did she notice the colours of people’s eyes?

When she didn’t ask him a question in return, Phil asked if he could turn on the music instead. He seemed to notice that she didn’t quite feel like talking at the moment, and Melinda appreciated that. 

The next two hours of the trip consisted of Daisy, Fitz, and Jemma singing along to the latest pop songs on the radio, and a very large headache on Melinda’s part. As much as she loved those kids, sometimes their enthusiasm could be a little much. As she peered over at Phil, though, she noticed him actually nodding along to the noisy singing.  _ Huh. Interesting. _

As if he could detect her thoughts, Phil looked over at her. 

“They’re pretty talented, aren’t they?” he asked, voice completely serious. 

Melinda gaped, even as she kept an eye on the road. Either this guy was completely tone deaf or very, very good with children.

Or maybe he could be both, she mused, as he began singing along in a surprisingly strong, yet out of tune voice. The kids were delighted, laughing with him, and Melinda couldn’t help but smile. Maybe this trip wouldn’t be as bad as she had expected.

>+<

Phil was surprised to find himself enjoying this trip. Of course, it was to find Loki and ask them to break this dratted curse (which still gave off some uncomfortable vibrations in his bones, by the way), but the company was pretty great. The kids were warming up to him, thank goodness. That first impression was definitely not very great. Melinda seemed to hate him less than before, which was also some fairly good news. She was actually incredibly pleasant company when she wasn’t glaring at him.

It was smooth sailing (or was it driving?) for the first few hours, but of course that couldn’t last. Fitz had to go to the bathroom right when they reached a remote part of the highway, and Jemma and Daisy were getting hungry as well. 

“Auntie Mel, where’s the next exit?” Fitz asked, trying not to squirm in his seat. 

Jemma interjected, “Yes, Auntie Mel, we should probably go for some lunch soon. Getting three regular meals a day is incredibly vital to our good health.”

Without looking back, Melinda pushed her phone towards Daisy, her daughter understanding what she wanted without a word needing to be said.

“The nearest exit is in three kilometers,” Daisy updated her. “But that one seems to only have a gas station and some farms. If we want real food we have to go to the one after, and that’s in, like, thirty kilometers.”

Melinda nodded. “We can go to this next exit for a bathroom break and have lunch at the one after. Thirty kilometers isn’t too far.”

Jemma seemed to approve of her plan, nodding along seriously. Phil turned back, and seeing Jemma’s expression, gave her a beaming smile. 

>+<

After a quick bathroom break at the gas station and a half hour of driving, they pulled into the parking lot of a small Chinese restaurant. 

“The Golden Dragon,” Phil read out loud, glancing at the menu taped to the window. “Seafood Restaurant.”

Melinda walked up to the front desk, the children behind her. 

“Table for five, please,” she said to the server.

They sat down and ordered some tea to begin with, and started chatting. Melinda perused the menu.

“So, Mr. Phil, where are you from?” Jemma inquired curiously. 

Daisy nodded seriously. “Yeah, you couldn’t’ve just materialized out of snow.”

“California,” he answered with a grin. “The weather there was great. I’ve always loved hot weather. But we had to move to Vancouver when I was fifteen. Have you always lived in Edmonton?”

Jemma smiled appreciatively, noticing how Phil was talking to them like they were adults. According to the parenting books she had read once when she was bored, this was an excellent tactic for bonding with preteens. This guy was good. 

“I moved as well, when I was eight. I used to live in England. It’s been a few years, but I haven’t quite gotten rid of the accent yet.”

“Well, it is a very cool accent.”

“Not as cool as my Scottish one, though,” Fitz interjected jokingly. They shared a laugh.

Melinda waved a server over to them, ordered quickly and efficiently in Cantonese, and they all settled down to wait for their food to arrive.

>+<

“Ugh, I think I’ve gone into a food coma,” Phil said, groaning as they walked slowly back to the car. Melinda let out a small smile. 

“Yeah, dim sum does that to you.” Over that lunch, Melinda had noticed how he interacted with the kids, how polite he was to the servers, how he was willing to try a whole bunch of new foods he hadn’t ever tried before. It was something to admire, and before she knew it, Melinda had started laughing at his jokes, smiling at the way he fumbled with his chopsticks. 

There, surrounded by her daughter and her lovely friends, and this stranger that was oddly charming, Melinda realized that she hadn’t felt this smiley since Andrew had been alive.

So she let that smile stay on her face for a while longer as they all piled into the minivan once again, revelling in the glow of the Christmas lights in the trees around them. It felt almost magical.

They drove for a while longer, with Phil somehow managing to get her to sing along to the radio, and finally, finally, they passed the border separating British Columbia and Alberta. Daisy was the first to notice, being in charge of the GPS and all. 

“Hey, mom, we’re in BC now!” she exclaimed, to a round of excited cheers from everyone in the car. 

“We should eat some snacks to celebrate,” Fitz added, opening and passing around a bag of chips with a crinkle. Phil gladly poured out a handful, offering them to Melinda. 

“Would you like one?” he asked, a genuine smile on his face. Melinda had to admit she wasn’t often one for junk food, but she took one from his hand anyway. And it was worth it to see his cute smile brighten even more. 

Melinda shook her head internally.  _ Cute? Where did that come from? _

She had to admit he was sweet, and funny, and kind, and really, really good with kids, not to mention pretty handsome too, but she definitely didn’t think he was  _ cute _ . Did she?

_ Please no. _ It really wasn’t a good time right now, with having to take care of Daisy and Jemma and Fitz, and especially not when the cute(?) guy in question was  _ cursed _ and could die at any moment, really. 

She was so lost in thought that she didn’t notice the patch of black ice right in front of her, and the car skidded across. Panicked, she attempted to regain control, but couldn’t quite manage it until Phil put a steadying hand on hers, helping her steer in the right direction. 

His hands were warm. They were warm, and soft, and Melinda blushed deep red.

“Mom, you scared us!” Daisy said indignantly, smirking at her mom’s reaction to Phil’s hand. Then she grinned angelically at Phil. “Thanks so much for helping, Mr. Phil.”

The kids echoed the sentiment, and Phil smiled, saying it was no problem. Then he turned to Melinda.

“You okay, Melinda?” he asked, concern etched in the lines of his face. Her knuckles were still white and gripped tightly on the steering wheel, and it didn’t escape Phil’s notice. 

Melinda cleared her throat, loosening her grip a little, but her tense tone of voice didn’t go away. “I’m fine. Thanks for helping.”

Things were just a little awkward for the next few hours.

>+<

It was almost nine when Melinda pulled into the parking lot of the Sylvia Hotel, absolutely exhausted. She sat there in the car for a few seconds, rejoicing in the fact that they were finally, finally in Downtown Vancouver, after twelve whole hours of driving and numerous bathroom breaks on the way. 

A knock sounded on her car window, and she turned to see Phil smiling at her. He opened the door and offered her a hand, the kids giggling behind him.

For a moment, Melinda debated whether or not to take it, but she really couldn’t find a valid reason to say no, other than her own embarrassment. And she didn’t want to disappoint the kids, after all. 

So she sighed, taking his hand and trying not to smile. One snuck through anyway. 

They held hands as they walked to the back, both unsure how to let go. Daisy, walking with Fitz and Jemma in front of them, turned back to give Melinda a wink.

Melinda didn’t think it was possible, but her blush deepened. Phil cleared his throat nervously. 

“So, we should probably go unpack the luggage,” he said.

Thankful for the out, Melinda gave him a brief smile and let go of his hand, unlocking and opening the trunk. A mountain of stuff greeted her, and her jaw dropped open.

“Who packed all of this?”

The kids, all looking incredibly guilty, pointed to each other in perfect sync. Resignedly, Melinda gave a sigh, catching Phil’s amused smile out of the corner of her eye.

>+<

“Hello, we have a reservation booked under May for three rooms?” Daisy said, having gotten to the front desk before everyone else. The concierge, a santa hat on his head, gave her a friendly smile, leaning down to type something on his computer as Fitz and Jemma caught up.

“Let me just verify that for you,” he told Daisy. “Are those your parents over there?”

Daisy followed his line of sight to Phil and Melinda, laughing together. She grinned. 

“That’s my mom over there, but Phil’s not my dad. At least not  _ yet _ .”

The guy laughed as Phil and Melinda reached them. “All right then. I see you have two standard rooms with two queen beds booked?”

Phil and Melinda glanced at each other. “Two rooms?” they asked, perfectly in unison, absolutely priceless looks upon their faces. 

“We booked three!” Phil said.

The concierge gave an apologetic wince. 

“I’m really, really sorry about this. Your reservation was pretty last minute, and we only had two rooms available. You should’ve gotten a call about this, maybe it didn’t go through?”

With sinking dread, Melinda realized that she probably did, in fact, get a call. She’d heard her phone ring, but upon not recognizing the number, had hung up immediately. She regretted it now. 

Sighing, she pulled Phil aside.

“Are you okay with sharing a room?”

Phil nodded. “I’m not sure we could do anything about it at this point even if we wanted to. And there are two beds, after all.”

“Okay, then,” she agreed. “Two rooms it is.”

>+<

Sharing a room with Phil wasn’t as bad as Melinda had expected. He was sweet, thoughtful, easy to get along with. Belatedly, she realized that she could technically just stay with the kids (who had requested their own room previously), but did she really want to ruin their fun?

Sometimes she thought she was too soft for her own good.

Oh well, no point thinking about that now. What was done was done. She flopped down on her bed, her suitcase half-unpacked beside her, and flipped the TV on to some cooking show, as Phil walked out of the shower. 

“Do you like to cook?” he asked, spying Gordon Ramsey flipping some pancakes on the flatscreen. 

“Not unless I’m purposely trying to poison somebody,” she replied jokingly, and Phil laughed, bringing a smile to Melinda’s face as well. “Want to watch with me?”

“Sure,” Phil nodded, taking a seat on her bed. They stayed there for a while, wincing at Ramsey’s sharp temper and salivating at the delicious food being cooked, not a word spoken between them. It didn’t really feel like words were necessary, to be perfectly honest. There was some sort of unspoken connection between the two, where Phil knew not to make her socialize too much and Melinda knew just the right things to say to make him laugh. 

It was nice.

Before long, Melinda felt herself nodding off, stifling yawns as she snuggled deeper into the pillows. Amusedly, Phil looked towards her, then reached for the remote. 

“We should get some sleep,” he said, turning the TV off. “Goodnight, Melinda.”

“Goodnight, Phil.” Melinda smiled into her pillow.

>+<

The next day dawned bright and early, with the kids blasting Christmas carols using a speaker tucked under their door. Melinda was already up, but Phil wasn’t so lucky.

“Hmm?” he muttered, confused, as he poked his head out from beneath the covers. His hair was tousled, and his shirt was wrinkled. “I thought Christmas didn’t come for another fifteen days at least.”

“Yeah, the kids like to get a head start,” Melinda explained, trying not to focus on how adorable and soft his hair looked, flying all over the place.

“That’s fair. So where are you planning on going today?”

“We can go check out Loki’s last address first, see if they’re there. If not, we’ll do some more research.”

They left after a quick breakfast, repeating their routine of singing in the car. Daisy opened the window to wave at random people on the streets, making it into a competition with Fitz and Jemma. 

“Let’s see how many people wave back!”

They drove through Downtown, merging onto the traffic of the famous Lions’ Gate Bridge. 

“You said they lived in the British Properties?” Melinda verified with Phil, switching lanes to let the kids see the view better.

“Yeah,” he answered, smiling at her. “I really hope they’re still there.”

>+<

By some stroke of luck, they were. Loki opened the door, took one look at Phil, and slammed it promptly in his face. Melinda was suddenly really glad they left the kids in the car. 

She knocked on the door once more, fully prepared to kick it down if Loki didn’t answer. Whatever had happened between Phil and them couldn’t have been serious enough to ruin years and years of friendship, for the dark haired sorcerer to curse Phil so mercilessly, could it? And even if it was that serious, it still wasn’t a good decision to do that to Phil. He was too much of a nice and selfless person. 

The incessant rapping of her knuckles on wood seemed to annoy Loki into opening the door, fury etched into each line of Loki’s face.

“You really decided to show your pretty face here after all these years, did you?” they said to Phil, ignoring Melinda completely. Their voice was dangerously silky, making every hair on Melinda’s body stand up.

Phil was unperturbed. “Loki, I really am sorry about what happened. But you have to understand, what you were trying to do wasn’t right. It wasn’t natural.”

“Well, isn’t that a hell of an apology, Coulson.” Loki shook their head. “You decide to show up at my door, and what? Beg for this curse to be lifted? You must have known I’d refuse.”

“I truly am sorry, Loki, and I’m not just saying it because of the curse. I regret my decision.”

“Well, be specific. What part do you regret?” Loki’s voice was turning more and more venomous by the moment, their eyes flashing a dangerous green. “The part where my mother died or the part where you  _ murdered _ her?”

Melinda took a step back, shock evident in her expression.  _ Phil murdered Loki’s mother? _ She didn’t want to believe it, but the words, no- the facts, were right there in front of her, and her head was swimming and the thoughts were overwhelming her and memories of her own mother’s warm, encouraging smile and fears of Daisy growing up alone and the sounds of Phil’s genuine words still rang through her ears-

He couldn’t have been lying, could he? All those friendly smiles, those heartfelt actions, those moments of understanding between them-

He could’ve had a thousand chances to hurt her, to hurt the kids, oh what had she gotten them into? Nearly tripping over her feet to get back to the car, to drive away from this situation, she completely missed Phil’s concerned expression, his voice of denial, Loki’s horrible smirk. 

“Well, Phil,” they said in a saccharine voice, “I was just about to tell you. Only a true love’s kiss can break this curse, but it does look like you’re fresh out of true loves, doesn’t it? That’s too bad.”

And the door slammed in his face once more. 

And Melinda had already driven away.

>+<

“Mom, what happened?”

“What happened, Auntie Mel?”

“Did Mr. Phil say something mean, Auntie Mel?”

The kids’ voices clamored over each other to be heard, but Melinda noticed none of them. All she wanted was to drive them far far away from her mistake, keep them safe as she should’ve done this entire trip. But instead, she’d been busy  _ falling in love _ , for gods’ sake, with  _ Phil _ . 

Talk about terrible decisions. 

She had half a mind to drive all the way back to the hotel, but the Lions’ Gate Bridge was in the midst of a traffic jam and she really didn’t want to sit through another round of radio karaoke. She pulled into the parking lot of the nearby mall instead, handed Daisy her emergency use phone, and let them out to explore.

Then she put her head in her hands and let herself break down. 

How could she have been so  _ stupid _ ? She’d let herself fall in love (because she had to admit it, that  _ was _ love), in a single day, forgetting her responsibilities as a mother. 

Hell, she hadn’t even thought about Andrew since Phil had magically materialized on her front lawn. Who just forgot about their late husband?

She was so heartless, so selfish. She didn’t deserve as amazing of a daughter as Daisy. She couldn’t even understand why Andrew had fallen for her all those years ago.

A sharp rap on her car window interrupted her thoughts. Furiously wiping away her tears, she rolled down her window. 

“Sorry, did you need this parking space?” Melinda asked the teen. Her voice was watery, and she hated it. “I can move if you’d like.”

“Oh, no, not at all! I’m Blake, she/they,” they said. She brushed her short bangs behind her ears. “I was just wondering if you needed someone to talk to. You seem, well, kind of upset.”

Melinda wasn’t one to talk about her feelings, so she told her as much. “Thanks for asking, but I think I’ll be fine.”

Blake’s bright hazel eyes twinkled. “Well, okay then. I hope you feel better. And you might want to consider that sometimes, things aren’t always as they seem, y’know. You should talk to him about what you heard.”

Confusion filled Melinda as she processed what they said, and she was just about to yell after Blake, but she’d already left in a flurry of powdered snow and the faint whiff of cinnamon. Melinda could just see the remnants of their shadow disappear behind a corner, and knew it was too late to catch up. That kid ran  _ fast _ . 

Melinda leaned back in her seat, trying to think through Blake’s advice. Part of her wanted to run away, back to Edmonton and forget this had ever happened at all, but she couldn’t ignore the fact that yes, maybe she  _ had _ acted a little impulsively earlier. And for some reason, even after all this, she couldn’t deny that she trusted Phil implicitly somehow (in the same way she’d trusted Andrew, her mind helpfully supplied). 

Sighing, she picked up her phone and pressed on Daisy’s icon. 

“Hi, mom!” Daisy’s voice came through the phone, a little staticky. “Jemma and Fitz dragged me over to Indigo books. They’re having a blast reading through stuff about astrophysics, and I may or may not have accidentally bought the new Percy Jackson book.”

Melinda smiled slightly. “Okay, then, as long as you don’t spend too much money. I’m going to go run some errands, you guys stay there, okay?”

“Got it!” 

And Melinda drove back to Loki’s house, wishing desperately on any Christmas magic there was that Phil would still be there.

>+<

Oh, he’d messed everything up, hadn’t he? Phil hung his head in his hands, frustrated. He should’ve told Melinda up front what had happened between him and Loki, should’ve called after her to  _ wait _ , to  _ please come back _ . But now, instead of apologizing to her, he was sitting in front of Loki’s house, lost in thought. 

Phil knew that there was definitely no chance of defeating the curse now, but for some reason that wasn’t what took up the most space in his thoughts. Instead, it was Melinda’s betrayed expression as she ran back to the car, the absolute hurt that was shown through each and every one of her actions then onwards. 

Maybe it was better this way. Melinda deserved better than him. She deserved someone who didn’t mess up his friendships, who wouldn’t even  _ consider _ killing the person someone loved. She deserved someone who wouldn’t conceal the truth from her, no matter how horribly she might think of him afterwards. She deserved someone who wouldn’t break her heart.

Phil had known he was in love with Melinda for a while. Who couldn’t be? She was beautiful, protective, had a great sense of humour, and just  _ understood _ him. 

A familiar looking minivan pulled up into the driveway, and Phil looked up. 

“Melinda?”

She stepped out of the car, her hair flying in the winter wind. 

“I thought I’d give you a chance to explain yourself.” Her voice was sharp. “You’d better do it well.”

And so, grateful for the second chance, he explained everything. 

>+<

_ “I killed her, Phil,” Loki said, tears streaming down their face. “It was such a stupid mistake, it- it was just oregano instead of thyme, god, it shouldn’t have created such a big explosion.” They paced back and forth, wearing a hole in the hardwood floor of Phil’s apartment.  _

_ “And I should’ve shielded her, but my first instinct was to protect myself, and how- how selfish does that make me?” _

_ Tears sprung to Phil’s eyes as he took in his best friend, usually so strong and sure of themself. He put a hand on their back.  _

_ “Hey, Loki, listen to me. It was an honest mistake, and I’m sure she wouldn’t blame you for it.” _

_ “Of course she can’t blame me, she’s DEAD!” The last part was said with a heart wrenching roar, accompanied by the crash of thunder from the storm outside.  _

_ Phil didn’t know what to say. Frigga, Loki’s mother, had always been so supportive of them, so kind, it was hard to imagine she was gone.  _

_ And then a lightbulb went off in Phil’s mind.  _

_ “Loki, what if we used necromancy?” _

_ Loki was so surprised they stopped pacing. “What do you mean?” _

_ They both knew that necromancy was illegal, but they were young, and confident, and cocky. They’d never get caught, they agreed. The two of them were too smart for that.  _

_ Neither of them even considered that necromancy might’ve been outlawed for a reason. _

<->

_ Over the next few months, they pored over tomes of dusty old books, marking down notes on sheets of paper and gathering necessary materials. But then Phil started to notice a common trend in all the resources they’d come across. _

_ None of them detailed what happened after a successful necromancy, or even if it had ever been achieved at all. It was like all those voices had just been silenced.  _

_ A chill ran down Phil’s spine, and he went to warn Loki. But Loki wouldn’t hear anything of it, desperately clinging on to this last bit of hope, not yet ready to let go.  _

_ He found them gathering ingredients feverishly two hours before the sorcery was scheduled.  _

_ “Loki, I’m telling you. We need more time to evaluate. This isn’t something we can just rush into.” _

_ “We don’t have more time, Phil! The magic wears down in effectiveness the more we wait, and if we don’t do it today, we’ll have to leave it for next year when the planets align again! You know all of this already, Phil.” _

_ “But if we get this wrong, Loki, there’s no going back. Frigga will be dead, forever.” _

_ “Then we’ll get this right.” _

<->

_ They didn’t get it right. Perhaps it was an error in their research, or measurements, or the art of necromancy was flawed to begin with, but the creature that rose out of Loki’s cauldron wasn’t Frigga. It was a monster.  _

_ Loki didn’t seem to be able to see that. They ran towards the  _ thing _ , pure happiness radiating from every inch of them.  _

_ Phil knew he had to stop them. Loki’s place had lots of medieval weaponry, stuff they collected from years past during their history buff phase. So Phil grabbed a sword, lifted it, and swung it towards the creature with all his might.  _

_ It collapsed into dust with an unearthly sound.  _

_ Loki screamed, and Phil ran. _

>+<

“I couldn’t face Loki after that. I knew how hard they’d taken it when Frigga died the first time, and I knew what I did then hurt them, but I couldn’t let a monster run loose,” Phil explained, eyes wet. “And then my own mother died, years later, and I finally understood how they felt. I tried to apologize, and that’s when they cursed me.”

Tears were streaming down Melinda’s face, but even so, she leant over to give Phil a comforting hug. Snow started to drift down slowly through the air, but neither of them noticed. 

“So that’s why,” Melinda whispered. “I’m sorry for doubting you.”

“You had every right to,” Phil reassured her. “It was my fault for not telling you earlier. You deserved to know.”

Melinda’s lips quirked up into a slight smile. “Well, that’s not wrong.” Her arms were still wrapped around Phil. 

He smiled at her as well, but then her smile dropped.

“So there’s no way to undo the curse then.”

Phil hesitated, unsure how to answer. Finally, he decided to just blurt it out. “True love’s kiss.”

“Seriously?” Melinda asked, trying and failing to keep in a laugh. “That’s completely cliche.”

“Yeah, I’d be laughing too, except I’m not very likely to be receiving one of those anytime soon,” he smiled sadly.

Melinda's jaw dropped for a second as she gaped at his obliviousness. Then she leaned forward, and pressed a gentle kiss to his lips. 

It was soft, and sweet, and full of hope. Phil felt the tingling of the curse recede, relief finally flooding his bones. They broke away after a moment, faces flushed, and Phil couldn’t help but notice how pretty Melinda looked in the snow. 

“You- you really meant that?”

Melinda gave a bright, warm smile. “Yeah, Phil. I do.”

>+<

They travelled back to the mall in a comfortable silence, giddy grins on their faces. Phil had used Melinda’s phone to call Daisy, requesting for the kids to meet them in the parking lot. 

“So, mom,” Daisy said, running up to them as Fitz and Jemma followed. “You and Phil made up?”

The two adults glanced at each other, blushing furiously.

“Oh, so you did more than make up, didn’t you?” Jemma observed, smiling. 

“Ha! I told you that would happen, Jemma! You owe me ten!” Fitz added, much to Melinda and Phil’s mortification. 

They climbed into the car, new books in hand as they told the adults all about the new friend they made.

“Her name’s Piper, and she’s the same age as us,” Fitz said, “and Daisy has a crush on her.”

“She asked Piper for her Instagram,” Jemma explained. “You should’ve seen them blushing.”

Melinda raised an eyebrow. “Now I’ve got something to tease you about when you come after Phil and me.”

Daisy groaned, face red, and laughter filled the car.

>+<

A few weeks later, the kids had found themselves back at school once more, and Daisy was staying with Jemma for a weekend sleepover. Phil and Melinda walked hand in hand through the streets of West Vancouver, making their way towards Loki’s house to drop something off. 

“Do you think they’ll like it?” Phil worried, brows furrowing. “What if this isn’t the right thing to do?”

“We won’t know until we try,” Melinda reminded him, putting her head on his shoulder. They reached Loki’s place, and she tugged Phil up the driveway.

Phil had written a letter to go along with the package, and was planning on leaving it in their mailbox, but the door opened to reveal the person themself. 

“Hey, Loki,” Phil waved awkwardly. “It’s been a while. I brought something for you.”

Loki could’ve lit the gift on fire, dissolved it into smoke, or done any other number of terrible things to it, but curiosity got the better of them. Well, that and the hopeful look on Phil’s face.

They unwrapped the brown wrapping paper covering the package to reveal-

A photo album.

It was filled with multitudes of snapshots, of Phil and Loki laughing together when they were younger, of Frigga holding Loki tight one Christmas Eve. It was filled with thousands of memories of happiness, of friendship, of love. Tears blurred Loki’s vision.

“I know it isn’t much,” Phil stammered out, clinging to Melinda’s hand in support, “but I wanted to let you know that I never meant for any of this to happen. Not your mother’s death, or my mistakes, or our friendship breaking apart.”

He swallowed. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that I don’t want to throw away all those years of friendship. They mean a lot to me. Would you be willing to give me a second chance?”

Loki paused for a second, stoic, then embraced Phil tightly. 

“I accept your apology,” they said, voice teary. “And I really did miss your friendship.”

Melinda smiled in relief. 

This holiday season? It had truly been magical.

**THE END**

**Author's Note:**

> Hey look, I managed to sneak some Pipsy in after all!!! :P


End file.
